Editorial: E-Cigarettes are the Gateway to Failure

The issue of drugs has been a long standing topic in Timber Creek High School. Information has been provided about the issue, and it has been discouraged and banned from the school. However, now it seems that even with prior knowledge and information about said issue, we have students taking it to the extreme.

Cassidy Loftin, a physics teacher here at Timber Creek, has made it a personal rule that students will not vape in her classroom. This means that student vaping at school is becoming a serious problem that needs to be resolved. School policy is that students cannot even possess e-cigarettes on school campus, let alone use one, yet not only do we have students vaping on buses, but there are apparently students vaping in our classrooms.

Students vaping on school property are not only defying policy; they are in direct violation of the student code of conduct. Pg. 8 under “Possession of Prohibited Items” states that students shall not possess or use tobacco products, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or any component, part, or accessory for an e-cigarette device. It is a personal goal of Timber Creek faculty to make our school as safe for students as possible, but some of us willingly impede our amazing staff from reaching this goal. This in-turn means that we as students cannot reach our full safety potential.

When teachers apprehend a student or students using e-cigarettes, they are given a detention referral and immediately sent to the Assistant Principal’s office. The standard punishment for those on school property caught vaping is a one day suspension. For multiple infractions, cases can result in referral to the DAEP. There is not, or at least there should not be, a first warning. This is a serious issue, one that must be dealt with accordingly.

E-cigarettes are often thought to be safer than using regular cigarettes. However, this isn’t the case at all. Most Juuls contain liquid Nicotine, which is infamously known as an addictive chemical. It can also severely damage the average brain. Nicotine is now being introduced to many teens through the use of e-cigarette’s, since many teens are using it as an alternative to smoking regular cigarette’s.

Whenever a student is caught with a nicotine product on campus, parents are immediately notified. Unfortunately, most parents seem to be in the dark about the issue. It cannot solely be the schools job to deter this type of behavior. If the school does not have the support of the parents with an issue like this, it simply makes it a more difficult problem to solve.

As Falcons, our goal should be to soar as high as we can, and for as long as we can. As long as we continue to let these kind of distractions impede us from reaching our goals, we can expect to fall into the ocean of stress and drown. Not only is using e-cigarette’s against school policy, but it simply doesn’t do anything for anyone in terms of reaching a goal. Expecting to get away with, or balance drugs with one’s school work, is a false hope. Don’t be the one that falls into that ocean, be the one that soars to new heights.

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Upcoming Events

Debate Team FundraiserMarch 25, 2019 – March 29, 2019Starting Monday, March 25, debate will be raising money during lunches to pie teachers in the face. The winning teachers will get a pie to the face, the following week. The debate team will collect final donations Friday, March 29.

College VisitMarch 25, 2019 at 11:00 am – 1:00 pmDuring all lunches on Monday, March 25, representatives for the Wichita State University will be available to speak with students interested in attending or applying to the Wichita State University.